U.S. vs. England World Cup: Hand of "Herb Brooks" in U.S.'s Tie Against England

Okay, Herb Brooks coached the amateur American ICE HOCKEY team to victory against the SOVIET UNION. At Lake Placid in 1980. When future President Ronald Reagan's Evil Empire still stood.

But Brooks did things differently from other coaches, as recounted in the movie "Miracle On Ice." Cut from an Olympic team himself in the 1960s, he chose his players for dedication, rather than raw skill. He did this by administering a bunch of physical tests, and a psychological test. Everyone took the latter, except goalie Jim Craig, whose stubborn refusal to take the test told Brooks all he needed to know.

Brooks disillusioned his team by telling them: "You don't have enough talent to win on talent. We're not going to be the best team on the ice. But we'll be the best conditioned team. Other teams don't work hard enough to keep up with the Russians for a whole game. We WILL work hard enough," with a drill regimen that sometimes lasted into the night.

In the "trial heat" (an exhibition game against the Soviets), the Americans trailed 10-3.  So Brooks took goalie Jim Craig aside and pointed out, "You'll need to kick up your game to another level. Show me the rebellious kid that wouldn't take the test."

In the return (real) match, the Americans won 4-3 with Craig holding the Soviets to fewer points than his teammates could score, and "saved by Craig," being a standard announcement.

The amateur U.S. soccer team was at least as badly outmatched against a British team ranked eight in the world.

Likewise, the grudge soccer match against Britain started with the Brits drawing the first blood, and the Yanks retaliating with the "lucky" shot in the 40th minute. The rest was a saga of patient defense that illustrated an important lesson: What you don't lose, you don't have to score.

U.S. goalie, Tim Howard, was "Jim Craig," at least for a day.

Herb Brooks, or his spirit (the man passed away tragically, a few years ago), must have been at work yesterday afternoon.